Hell Froze Over...

Yes, hell froze over, pigs flew, and monkeys flew out of my butt (okay, that's gross, but I couldn't think of anymore idioms. You can thank Wayne & Garth for that one...). So, what happened that was so drastically climate changing in the eternal underworld?

My husband agreed to run a half-marathon with me.

Yes, Tyler "But I Get Shin Splints" Grassmeyer has agreed to spend 3 long months following a strict daily running, strengthening, and stretching regimine to prepare ourselves to run 13.1 miles this winter. It's not that he doesn't work out, he just does. not. run.

This will mark the 3rd time I've started training for a half-marathon, so I'm pretty darn excited that I've got a buddy to run with now. Even better, it's my husband! I've got all kinds of plans for his soon-to-be-runner self. The down side-- something equally as ground breaking? We're training in the AM. Like in the O'dark thirties. Before school. Me. Mrs. "But It's 9 AMMMMM. Stop taaaalking." (Can you hear the whining?)

Today was our first morning. It was just a strengthening/stetching day, which was nice for a Monday, but it was still miserable. Yawned the whole timie and got right back in bed as soon as we got home. Tomorrow's our first run-- I'll let you know how it goes! (Tyler's shins will probably hurt and I'll probably stop for a nap...)

Here goes nothin!

Cling to what is good...

"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in affliction, faithful in prayer." Romans 12:9-12

Happy Sunday. Be blessed.

Back to School... Back to School...

(I sing that in my best Billy Madison voice...).

I've been a little blog happy this month, but it's been a whole FIVE days since I last posted. Why?

School is back on, my friends.

Monday was the big day. I cannot express with words how shocking it is for me to be a Third Year. I vividly remember my first few days, weeks, months of my first year (and every solitary day and test that followed...). How difficult they were. How scared I was. How proud I was of myself for surviving. And how much older the Third Years seemed... Now that's ME.

I must say that my first clinical affiliation this summer made a vast difference in my confidence as a clinician and my desire to start practicing (replacing my previous TERROR). I'm excited and while I realize I have a lot of experience to earn, I know I'll be okay. I'm exactly where I should be...

Still, something in me was sad on my Monday. My last first day of school (this time, for real). Sure, I work my butt off for no money. I come home after eight hours at school and STILL have work to do all night. And thesis is going to SUCK THE LIFE OUT OF ME this semester, but there's something safe about school. Something that appeals to me. And while graduation will probably be the happiest day of my life, I'll still miss it. It's like the official end of my youth...

So here goes nothin'...

Savor it husband. Because next year is Dr. and Mr.

(And yes, Mom, I even took a picture... but it was NOT pretty so we're not going to share...)

No Need to Adjust Your Screen...

That IS me and Tyler with Mr. Keith Urban.

We had to take the picture with those other people. We have no idea who they are, so let's just do this...

Or better yet...

Nicole who?

My birthday gift from Tyler was concert tickets to the Sugarland/Keith Urban concert, as well as tickets to "The Backstage Experience," which he scored through my cousin (THANK YOU SHAY). We enjoyed a barbeque dinner, a private mini concert by Keith (he shared some stories, answered a few questions, and played a few songs), and had the opportunity to briefly meet him and snap a picture. It was GREAT. The whole night was awesome-- Sugarland was great, Keith was great. He really put on a great concert. We had so much fun!

We had a great night-- thanks for a great birthday Tyler! (And Shay and Keith and Sugarland...)

Dear Ladies

Dear Ladies That Squat Over Public Toilets Instead of Sitting on Them,

While I appreciate your good hygiene practices (and commend your quad strength), I myself also abide by good hygiene practices. As such, it is never...EVER...on my list of things to do to wipe someone else's urine off of a toilet seat. You, my clean bottomed friend, are the reason you squat over toilets in the first place. Check the splashage or improve your aim...

Seriously.

Sincerely,

Barefoot Katie

Roooad Trip: Chicago

So, after we wrapped things up in St. Louis, we hit the road for Chicago. Not only was it was my first time in Chicago, but we were also celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary (ca-razy!), so I was mucho excited-o.


Random note: we stopped at this gas station somewhere in Illinois (where we did NOT run out of gas this time, probably because I was doing the driving...). Anyway, this gas station bathroom smelled EXACTLY like my childhood dance studio. Like, JUST like it.

So, ANYWAY... Traffic was miserable once we got closer to the city, but we finally managed to make it out for the evening. (You should have SEEN the state of my car as we pulled into the Marriott and had it valeted. Car filled to the brim...blankets, jackets, coke bottles. Just a total mess after three days of driving. "A sewing machine? Why does this chick have a sewing machine in her trunk?") But I digress...again.

So we went to dinner at Weber Grill, where they cook all of your food over charcoals on the backyard style Weber grills. We had steaks, mashed potatoes, broccoli and cheese, wine... De-lish.

After dinner, we decided to hit up a piano bar that was just around the corner. When we first arrived, the pianist was playing jazz and not singing. The rest of the patrons were also a little...well... Let's just say if we were having an age contest, Tyler and I would've been the bottom 10th percentile...

Things eventually picked up though and everything morphed into the sing-along style piano bar we were hoping for. We can sing Billy Joel and Journey with the best of those senior citizens... We ended up having a great time. Random note: Our cocktail waitress talked EXACTLY (and I mean EXACTLY) like Heidi Klum. I kept hoping she'd pop out an "Auf Wiedersehen." (Didn't happen.)

So the next morning, we started things off bright and early with an architectural boat tour on the Chicago River (where, if we were having an Asian tourist contest, we would've been in the bottom 10th percentile). Not only is the river gorgeous, it was a great way to see the whole city within an hour-- no walking required. I was surprised at how pretty the city is.

We then went to Wrigleyville to check out the stadium. Very cool. (I'm remiss I didn't get a picture of the Harry Carry statue outside. Not a big Cubs fan...I just like the Will Ferrill SNL skits.)

We also hit up some spots in Lincoln Park, including Molly's Cupcakes. We had to do some crazy Austin Powers-style parking, all in the name of a cupcake.

I indulged in a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough cupcake and Tyler had a Keylime cupcake. Sounds delicious, right? They were okay. I give them huge points for the concept of injecting straight cookie dough into the center of the cupcake, but it took plenty of bites to actually get to the center and the cupcake itself was a little dense and dry. Maybe it was just that they had the misfortune of following the spectacular-ness of The Cupcakery in St. Louis... I mean, they weren't gross, just weren't great.

We spent the rest of the day scouting out some spots the average tourist may not go in search of. To our advantage, we had a car.

First stop, Tyler's mecca: the SAE headquarters at Northwestern University. Tyler was an SAE at Nebraska (is an SAE?) and he came here as a pledge in 1998, but there's some super secret sacred temple room that you can only enter as an active member. Thus, the stop. Cue Tyler: "Don't make fun of it!"

Phi Alpha, baby.

To his credit, this church was beautiful and we took a lot of neat pictures. It was also very cute how appreciative Tyler was that we included it in our stops. We also found Tyler's and all of his pledge brother's signatures in the GINORMOUS Harry Potter sorcery-looking guest book in the front lobby. It was pretty funny to see everyone's signature and information from eleven years ago...

After that, we hit up the suburbs to pay homage to the recently deceased John Hughes. We found some of his classic movie landmarks...

Like, Kevin McAllister's house. (Tyler forced me to do this. I really didn't want to... "This is someone's house! You know they hate this...") We also saw the church that Kevin takes refuge in...

And Ferris Bueller's highschool. Trivia tid bit: also the same high school as The Breakfast Club.

My own little mecca (which was not in the best neighborhood, I might add.)

That night (yes, this was the hair burning night) we went to Second City, an improv sketch comedy club where all of the SNL greats got their start. It. Was. Hilarious. Seriously... (I kept thinking, "If these people are hilarious...and lots of SNL members get their start here....why isn't SNL funny anymore??")

Every single sketch was so funny. They did one sketch about "The Great California Gay Migration" from the point of view of a farmer reading a history book. And it was about how California voted down gay marriage rights, but Iowa voted in favor of them, so all of "they gays" migrate to Iowa. They just kept reminding us "California said no. Iowa said yes. Iowa... Iowa, America." (Don't know if it's coming across, but it was very funny...")

Thursday morning, we wrapped things up with a visit to Millennium Park to see "The Bean." (I'm pretty sure it's the same thing from Flight of the Navigator.)

The Bean kept morphing my reflection to look disproportionately small on top and big on bottom. Oh, wait...

To Tyler's dismay, I made him take another tourist picture. Poor thing.

Then a parade song and dance to "Twist & Shout" suddenly broke out in the middle of Michigan Ave and I danced along on the stairs...

Then we hit up Navy Pier...

Where we ate Chicago style pizza and shared Garrett's popcorn... Seriously, the best caramel popcorn I've ever had. The cheddar was good too, but the caramel was really spectacular. I now understand why it's $52 for a tin.

And from there, we headed east, back to DC...

Whew! That took a LONG time. If you made it through all of that, nice job... I realize it was a commitment. Thanks for reading, thanks for caring. :)

Rooooad Trip: St. Louis

I bring to you a photographic recap of our time in St. Louis last week... We spent two great days with my brother and my nephew. We ran around town, took in the sites, shared great food, and yes...indulged in a few tasty treats I happily refer to as...cupcakes.

We spent a few hours in Forest Park, just a block or two from my brother's apartment.

It was a gorgeous day.

We climbed trees because, let's face it, we Ways are great tree climbers...

(Okay, so I haven't climbed a tree since I was 8. Needed a little help. And no, that is not a vein about to pop in my brother's neck. I'm light as a feather.)

Drew kept having to wait for us...much to his annoyance.

But then he got rewarded by getting pushed really, really fast by his Pops.

Then we ran up a giant hill to the art museum...

Where we got a great view of the Grand Basin.

Who knew St. Louis was so pretty? (Not me.)

Tyler was actually there, he just took most of the pictures.

With my brother Andy and nephew Drew. They're the best.

That night, we had the BEST dinner at I Fratellini, a restaurant my brother manages. We stayed all night and probably sampled everything on the menu. Seriously. Amazing. (Warning: official endorsement coming.) If you're ever in St. Louis, go there.

Of course, we had to stop at the Arch on our way out of town.

But not before finding a local cupcake joint...

Points for ambiance...

I went classic with a Red Velvet. Tyler had a Chocolate Capuccino.

Honestly, the best cupcake I had all summer. Light, fluffy. Not too dense or rich. Perfect amount of icing. It was wonderful.

The End.

This concludes today's recap of St. Louis. Thanks for stopping by!